Best Results Organizing

This Thursday, April 22, 2010, is the 40th Earth Day. In celebration, Paper Doll has traveled the globe (from the keyboard, maintaining a small carbon footprint) to identify some unusual and environmentally-friendly paper options.

The typical paper used in copiers, faxes and printers used to be “virgin”. Trees got cut down and turned into paper, while society got chain letters and photocopies of people’s tushies, and our forests started looking sparse. Then there was recycled paper, but even it was originally made from trees. Today, we’ve got some international alternatives to paper’s usual provenance, making it a little bit easier, if a little weirder, to be green.

Spinning Straw Into…Copy Paper?

Nature’s Paper reminds me of Rumplestilskin, who exacted a price for helping the imprisoned farmer’s daughter spin straw into gold. Considering that our natural resources are precious, it’s not that surprising to learn that now we can manufacture copy paper from straw.

In Australia alone, tens of millions of trees are cut each year to produce paper for the Down Under populace, but Nature’s Paper has developed a way to turn leftover wheat straw into paper instead.

Normally, when wheat is harvested, grain is used  to produce goodies like cereal and flour, but the wheat straw and waste hull are left behind to decompose. Nature’s Paper gathers that wheat straw and converts it into a paper pulp. Then, they power their industrial plant and heat the recycled water they use to clean the paper, all with an organic biofuel made from the the waste hull.

While the typical paper whitening process involves bleach or chlorine, which can only be used twice before disposal (often risking ground water contamination), Nature’s Paper has a chlorine- and bleach-free, sustainable process to safely whiten the pulp to create bright, white copy paper. They even manage to convert their manufacturing waste product into the cardboard boxes to hold the paper!

Reviewers say Nature’s Paper looks and feels just like wood-based copy paper. Check it out yourself — request a sample from its U.S. distributor, Enviro Green.

Can We Still Play Rock, Paper, Scissors If It’s Rock, Rock, Scissors?

If you didn’t have paper, you could get your message across by writing a short note on a rock and throwing it in someone’s direction. A few companies are taking that a step further, bypassing the possibility for concussion, and creating paper out of stone.

ViaStone’s biodegradable, tree-free paper production requires no toxins, chemicals or even water, and is designed specifically to work with inkjet printers. ViaStone’s process creates paper from a combination of natural stone, mineral powder and some trace non-toxic resins. (California-based Via Stone’s website is still under construction; perhaps it’s hard to build a computer out of stone.)

Obviously, rock paper isn’t quite as sustainable as that made from wheat straw–we can’t grow new rocks. If the extraction of limestone were exponentially increased to make paper from stone available in large quantities, at a level competitive with tree-based paper products, there would be some impact on our balance of resources, but certainly nothing approaching that used to make conventional photo printing or card stock paper from trees.

ViaStone isn’t the only stone cold eco-friendly solution out there.

TerraSkin is made of 75% mineral powder and 25% non-toxic resin, and like other stone paper products, requires no water for production, and therefore creates no water-based pollutants, and inorganic mineral powder residue can either be reused as part of the production process or returned to nature.

Next, TerraSkin’s high proportions of inorganic mineral powder mean that used paper will degrade back into mineral powder when left out in nature within approximately three to nine months–so whether it becomes litter or landfill, it will have minimal environmental impact. Or, one could incinerate TerraSkin paper because the non-toxic resins won’t emit smoke or poisonous gas by-products.

In addition to photo-quality paper, TerraSkin has been used in everything from Burt’s Bees’ soap wrappers to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s glossy gift bags.

Of course, few people are willing to make a trade-off, compromising on quality in order to be environmentally friendly. (Remember learning cursive writing on that recycled lined paper? I swear, there were small twigs sticking out of that stuff!) TerraSkin is becoming renowned for its unique texture and nifty printing capabilities. Paper made from rock has no fibers, so it doesn’t absorb ink like tree-based paper, and uses about one-third less ink than regular paper. The ink doesn’t bleed, so the paper delivers crisper, cleaner, images. Like other stone-based paper, TerraSkin is also very durable–it’s tear-resistant, water-resistant and strong.

FiberStone is another major player in the rock paper business. It’s composed of about about 80% calcium carbonate, the limestone collected as waste material from quarries used for the construction industry, with about 20% high density polyethylene, a non-toxic resin. The resin acts as a binder for the mineral powder, creating a water- and tear- resistant paper that is nonetheless soft, smooth, and of bright white quality. Also like other stone paper products, production of FiberStone’s Natural Stone Paper requires no water and causes no toxins to enter the air or groundwater. Production is acid-free, bleach-free, chlorine-free…and guilt-free.

FiberStone’s paper takes a little longer to photo/bio-decompose than others — approximately 14-18 months. However, it also seems to have slightly more applications than just copy, photo and premium coated paper for inkjet printers. It’s also suitable for synthetic paper and film products (like Tyvek envelopes and medical packaging), green shipping/packaging supplies and PVC sheeting. It’s even FDA-approved for use in bulk and individual food packaging for shelf-stable and refrigerated or frozen foods. And, because, like all stone paper, it’s water-, grease- and tear-resistant, it’s ideal for field journals or even sob-resistant diaries for prone-to-tears teenagers.

FiberStone paper products are only available through a few affiliate vendors, but you can request a sample of FiberStone’s eco-friendly adhesive labels.

Would Paper By Any Other Name Taste As Sweet?

O’Bon is an environmentally-minded school and office supply company originally known for a line of pencils made from newspaper instead of wood. O’Bon is passionate about running programs to educate children about sustainability and the environment, deforestation and recycling, so it’s no surprise they’d jump at producing paper products made from bagasse, a sugarcane pulp. (Sugarcane is weed-like, requiring little fertilizer or water, making it an excellent sustainable crop.) O’Bon’s line of bagasse-based notebooks are strikingly colorful and vivid, with 100% recycled cardstock covers and sugarcane pulp pages lined with soy-based inks.

Oh, POOP!!!

Mr. Ellie Pooh is a line of paper made from, well, elephant poop. And not just any elephant poop, but Sri Lankan elephant poop…and therein lies a tale.

Approximately one-tenth of the world’s 40,000 Asian elephant population lives in Sri Lanka, in a precarious balance with a populace that finds them an inconvenience. In other parts of the world, elephants are killed for their tusks to supply the ivory trade, or for their meat, but in Sri Lanka, the agricultural community has killed the elephants to prevent them from trampling their crops and destroying their only source of revenue.

Mr. Ellie Pooh is a company that hopes to prove to the Sri Lankans that the elephants can be economically valuable for a new, environmentally sustainable, revenue source. Not to get too scatological, elephants are vegetarians, so their waste is nearly 100% raw cellulose. Mr. Ellie Pooh has developed a manufacturing process that cleans the elephant dung, collected from inhabitants at Sri Lankan elephant orphanages, and combines 75% cleaned dung with 25% post-consumer (recycled) paper to create a hygienic, acid-free (and odor-free), linen-quality, papyrus-like paper with a delicate texture suitable for writing and crafts.

Mr. Ellie Pooh paper production involves no toxic chemicals, and the bonding agents used are all natural, including alum and rosin, with water-soluble salt-based dyes for coloring. The 100% handmade paper products products are bleach-free and acid-free, and the perfect pH for use in photo albums and scrapbooks.

The company has partnered with elephant paper specialists Maximus, on Project Peace Paper, to help reduce the long-standing conflicts between humans and elephants in Sri Lanka’s rural villages. They plan to launch paper re-cycling plants in multiple rural areas and provide training in paper making techniques to the villagers, helping develop a larger sustainable industry.

So, no trees are harmed in the production of this type of paper, and with an average adult elephant producing up to 50 kilograms of dung per day, this paper can be a reliable, renewable source of income for Sri Lankans, thereby improving the plight of the elephants. Mr. Ellie Pooh products can be purchased at scrapbook supply stores, zoos, and various paper vendors throughout North America.

Mr. Ellie Pooh isn’t the first company in the field. In case you’re wondering how someone got the idea to make paper from elephant waste in the first place, that’s the story of a Mr. Wanchai of the bluntly-named Elephant Dung Paper. After visiting a local natural paper production facility and later, the Thai Elephant Conservation Center, he put number two and number two together and paper-making history was made.

Creative Paper Wales, the only craft paper company in all of Wales, was not to be outdone by the pachyderms of Sri Lanka. With their paper mill, located in the adorably-named Snowdonia National Park, Creative Paper Wales produces paper products like holiday and greeting cards, writing paper sets, gift wrap and wedding invitations…

…all from cellulose fiber extracted from Welsh sheep.

Collected sheep waste is completely sterilized by boiling in a special pressure cooker at over 120 degrees centigrade, and then washed repeatedly until it’s been reduced to half its original weight, yielding fibers for the paper process and a by-product of sterile liquid fertilizer that is made available to local farmers.

Cellulose fiber is blended with other recycled pulps, sieved, and then sheets are stacked and layered with felt to keep them from adhering to one another. Immense pressure squeezes out any remaining water, causing the cellulose fibers to tightly bond, making it unexpectedly strong. Finally, the papers are hung to dry in the mill’s roof rafters.

Creative Paper Wales doesn’t just make paper from sheep stuff–they also use waste paper, textile mill cutoffs and rag. Their Florevelopes™ are made with living wildflower seeds, so after you read a letter, you can tear up the envelope, soak it overnight in water and plant it…to grow more wildflowers!

Who would have imagined that straw, stone, sugarcane and…something else, could all be used to create paper that reduces adverse environmental impact? We can only imagine what paper products the future has in store. Happy Earth Day!

On Saturday, April 17, 2010, 55 Better Business Bureau locations are helping you observe Secure Your ID Day by sponsoring community shred-a-thons.

Here at Paper Doll, we’ve spoken often on the importance of protecting your identity:

Will The Real Paper Doll Please Stand Up?
A Boy Named Sue May Hate His Name (but that doesn’t mean you can steal it!)
The Big OUCH!!! (Medical Identity Theft–Part 1)
Doctor, It Hurts When Total Strangers Do This! (Medical Identity Theft, part 2)

So moms and dads, small business owners, volunteers and professional organizers, gather up any paper (and computer discs) with personally-identifying information (but which you no longer need), and transport it (securely!) to your one of the participating U.S. or Canadian Better Business Bureau locations. BBB-partnered document destruction specialists in your area will shred your documents (for free) and help you preserve your good name.

   Remember, you are the only you you’ve got.

“Help!”

Professional organizers hear that call each time the phone rings. This time, the voice on the other end of the phone belonged to a lovely woman whose elderly father had recently passed away in another state. My new client now had boxes and binders and duffel bags full of insurance papers, trust documents, personal bookkeeping and pretty much everything except her father’s fourth grade fractions homework. There was such a volume of paperwork, and it arrived in such a state of disarray, that it was causing her to feel understandably overwhelmed.

Modern life is complex, and the papers needed to manage the ins and outs of it tend to suffer abuse and neglect. My client’s father probably assumed there was always a little more time to make sense of the paperwork. Elsewhere, I’ve seen clients depend on their keen memories to identify the location and details of important documents, but the vagaries of fate can be unkind to us…and our memories.

Today’s post isn’t about how long to hold on to your papers, or even where to organize your Family Files. Today is about making sure you know what documents you possess, where they are to be found, and what they represent.

Creating A Document Inventory

Use the sample categories below to take inventory of what documents you possess. A simple spreadsheet with worksheets for each category will allow you to update and make changes as necessary. Not all individuals possess or even need all documents, but hopefully these lists will serve as a trigger to help you craft your inventory and search for items that might be missing. For each applicable document, list the location and the date it was created or updated, as well as other essentials, as noted.

Location, Location, Location

If documents are in your home, specify the exact location, including the room and storage method, such as:

Home Office, in the Blue 2-Drawer Filing Cabinet, in the Legal Section
Master Bedroom Closet, in the Fireproof Safe
Colonel Mustard, in the Conservatory, with a lead pipe (Just making sure you’re paying attention.)

For documents kept outside the home, be as specific as possible. “Safe Deposit Box” is not enough. Instead, list the safe deposit box number, the bank name, branch address and phone number.

If a document is located at the office of your attorney, CPA, financial planner, real estate agent, or even your brother-in-law, list the person’s name, address, phone number and email address. It may seem excessive now, but in a befuddling emergency, or if you’re not able to provide information to your family, the extra details will be a comfort.

And, of course, back up your digital document inventory, and keep any paper copies in safe locations, away from prying eyes.

VIPs–Very Important Papers

Review these past posts to help you replace any missing vital documents:
Top Ten Vital Documents–Do You Know Where Your VIPs Are?
More VIPs–Very Important Papers Beyond the Top Ten

For each of the following, note the document’s location, as well as the license or certificate number (if applicable), and the date issued. In most cases, your originals will be in a safe deposit box or safe, so it’s helpful to note the locations of the originals and, when available, certified copies.

Lifecycle Documents
Birth Certificates
Adoption Papers
Marriage Licenses
Domestic Partnership Agreements
Separation Agreements
Divorce Decrees
Pre/Post-Nuptial Agreements
Child Custody Agreements
Religious Documents–Baptismal certificates, religious annulments, Ketubahs & Gets (Jewish marriage and divorce certificates), etc., as applicable for your faith

Citizenship/Service Documents
Citizenship Papers/Applications
Passports
Social Security Cards (Remember, don’t carry these around with you!)
Military Discharge Papers

Other Personal Papers
Immunization Records
Employment Contracts
End of Life Contracts–Arrangements for funeral services, burial or cremation, perpetual care, etc. If you’ve worked with an estate planner, these documents may be grouped in an estate binder.

Assets

Retirement Investments: These might be Qualified Retirement Plans through employers, Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) you’ve set up for yourself, or Annuities. For each (because over the course of your life, you’re likely to pick up more than a few), list the following:

1. The type: For retirement plans through work, note if it’s a: Pension, 401(K), Profit-Sharing Plan, or ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan); for IRAs, note whether it’s a Traditional, Roth, Spousal, SEP, or SIMPLE IRA. For annuities, note whether they are fixed, variable or deferred.
2. The account number
3. Login/User name and password for online access
4. Contact information (toll-free number, web site)
5. Names of investments held (i.e., the name of each mutual fund, stock, real estate address, etc.)
6. The name of the Representative/Custodian; if it’s an employer-sponsored plan, note the contact name/phone number/email for the applicable employer.
7. Location of periodic statements

Non-Retirement Investments: This is generally all of the “stuff” that might be considered valuable by the rest of the world. If you have items of deep sentimental value, such as genealogical records or private letters, you might want to make a separate worksheet in your inventory spreadsheet for sentimental/personal assets.

For each of the following, identify where the statements and purchase/sale paperwork reside. Use items 1-7 above, but for type, specify investment types:

*Bank Accounts–List brick and mortar banks and credit unions and well as web-only banks, and try to recall checking, savings, money market, CDs and any other banks and financial instruments. If another financial institution takes over your bank, be sure to update names and contact data.
*Brokerage Accounts
*Stocks
*Bonds
*Mutual Funds
*College Funds–529s or other educational savings plans
*Custodial Accounts/Minor’s Trusts
*Deferred Compensation Plans–If you have an agreement with an employer to receive a lump sum as of a particular date, note an estimate of the amount you expect to receive and the anticipated date.
*Stock Options

Other Assets
*Deeds to real estate/property
*Titles for automobiles, boats, airplanes
*Loans payable to you, by individuals or companies
*Other tangible assets–collectibles/collections, timeshare property, etc.
*Home Inventory–This document (often combined with a video inventory) is essential for helping you recoup losses after a disaster like a fire or flood, or after a home invasion and theft. We’ll cover household inventories in greater detail in an upcoming Paper Doll post.

Liabilities

In addition to listing the locations and essential contact information for the liabilities below, create a summary of the terms of the agreements for quick reference.

Mortgages on property
Loans for auto, boats, etc.
HELOCs (Home Equity Lines of Credit)
Other Lines of Credit
Credit Cards with outstanding debt
Personal Loans
Ongoing Accounts–Household utilities (land line and/or cellular telephone, internet services, gas, electric and water), personal accounts/memberships (gym memberships, clubs, etc.), and any other accounts for which payments are auto-debited from credit cards or bank accounts or are charged on a recurring basis.

Benefits/Insurance

Social Security–List your Social Security Number and the location of your annual statements. If you’re already receiving benefits, list the bank name, location, contact information and bank account number into which your benefits are deposited.

Military Retirement Benefits–If you receive a military pension, note your Veteran’s Administration Number, your pension plan name/type, the bank name, location, contact information and bank account number into which your benefits are deposited. For reference, list your branch of the military and dates of service. Note: If you’re currently in the armed services, keep the Department of Defense’s Military OneSource number (800-342-9647) handy.

Life Insurance–We tend to collect life insurance policies over time. In addition to the policies you purchase, or are purchased on your behalf by employers, it’s not uncommon to have tiny no-cost policies associated with credit cards and bank accounts, the purpose of which is usually to induce you to eventually increase the value by putting in your own money. Many of my clients have also unearthed Gerber and other life insurance policies purchased by their parents when they were young. Two different clients of mine, both in their sixties, recently came across “baby” policies and cashed them in for small, but not inconsequential, amounts.

In addition to all the contact information and the location of the policies, note the insurance carrier (i.e., company), the policy number, the exact type of life insurance (term, whole), the named party being insured, the beneficiary (primary, secondary, etc.), the cash value and the face value, as well as the annual premium, if applicable.

Health Insurance–In addition to regular health policies, note Medicare Parts A & B, Medigap, prescription drug, vision, dental and secondary health care policies.
Disability Insurance
Long-Term Care Insurance

Auto
Homeowners
Renters
Umbrella
Riders for art, antiques, jewelry, etc.

For the above policies, in addition to the contact information and location of the documents, note the insurance carrier, policy number and thumbnail summary of benefits.

Taxes

Let’s say you keep last year’s tax return in your desk drawer, the prior six years of returns in your reference files and the returns dating back to when you were a soda jerk at the malt shop in a closet under the stairs. However you do it, document where those tax returns are.

Why? The W-2s in your tax returns contain information that might be essential for getting your Social Security and Medicare benefits. Why else? Tax returns tend to hold all sorts of gems about stock sales and financial history that might be necessary to your heirs if not all of your records are as finely honed as your document inventory.

Estate Planning Documents

In most cases, if you’ve had an attorney help you develop an estate plan or trust, all of your documents will be collated in a big binder. In theory, your attorney should also keep a copy of the documents. List both locations–for the copies in his/her possession and in yours.

Last Will and Testament
Trusts–Depending on the complexities of your life, these may include living trusts, charitable trusts, life insurance trusts and/or minors’ trusts.
Medical Power of Attorney
Living Will/Medical Directives
Organ Donation Form
General Power of Attorney
Guardianship Papers

Advisors/Important Contacts

In addition to keeping track of each document’s location and a summary of what it entails, your inventory should include contact information for all the experts in your life, including:

Legal–Attorneys used for estate planning, setting up trusts, creating wills, handling adoptions, etc., as applicable

Financial–Banker, CPA/Accountant, Certified Financial Planner, Stock Broker, Mortgage Broker, Real Estate Agent, Retirement Plan Benefits Manager, IRA Administrator, Employer’s Human Resources Director, etc.

Other–Primary care physician, medical specialists, religious/spiritual leaders

Updating the Inventory

Any time you change insurance policies, roll a 401(k) over to an IRA, or experience major life changes, you should update your records right away. But if you’ve just spent six months searching for a job, battling your inner Bridezilla, or learning how to feed triplets, updating your document inventory is probably the last thing you want to do.

Put an Update Day on your schedule. Pick dates somewhere soon after you’ve completed your taxes, while your financial situation is still fresh in your mind. Plan a few 45-minute sessions over the course of a few weeks and review one category at a time.

Obviously, you’re not going to create this kind of inventory in one sitting. In, fact, you might not be ready to put this together at all until you’ve organized your files and taken the mortgage paperwork off the top off the fridge and your health insurance policy out of the laundry room. But this should give you a start for figuring out what kinds of documents you have, what kind you need, and how to create a treasure map of your most important documents.